The rift in Hakurei's border
by Max Motierre de Mirabeau
Summary: Short OS. A scientific team discovers the existence of a parallel universe and accidentally opens a breach to Gensokyo, in which one of them, Alexandre, is transported.


Gensokyo's existence was unknown to the wide majority in the modern human world. There sure were some Japanese monks and intellectuals that had heard of the tales and legends surrounding the isolated Hakurei Shrine; very few, however, believed they were more than archaic folklore. The rest of the world didn't know about its existence either, furthermore the legends surrounding it were unknown as well. For most of them, the existence of another world along theirs was absolutely unconceivable, except for the believers of various religions who firmly believed in heaven, a place you could only reach after death. This wasn't truly a general opinion nevertheless, as billions of dollars from private investors were given to Swiss scientists that were busy researching the matter.

Alexandre was working overnight, as with the rest of its team, to supervise the first functioning sequence of the magnetic singularity creator. The team had passed two whole years theorizing and conceiving the machine from scratch, persuading the European governments to invest money in the project, and finally building the gigantic apparatus that was as large as a baseball pitch and eight-stories high. It was constructed in what had become the most modern and famous research institute in Geneva and Europe, not far from the well-known Large Hadron Collider.

Each and every scientist was trembling from excitation, as they could finally see the result of their work, and revolutionize physics, perhaps. The young man was in charge of giving the instructions to the machine via a complex but efficient command-line interface.

"Alexandre, we're ready, please execute the self-testing routine." told the project leader. Alexandre quickly typed and executed the command on the console. The silent generators were slowly starting to function, and a few minutes later, the monitors displayed the results.

"It seems the magnetic singularity creator is properly tuned. No problem whatsoever were detected during the routine, the tolerance is as low as 10-15 Tesla. We're in perfect conditions to start our first test."

Marc, the project leader, nodded, and Alexandre executed the first test. Every member of the team was staring at the real-time data and results shown on the flat-screen with eager eyes, and after a few hours of adjusting, searching, and analysing the data given, the discovery broke out: there was a parallel universe to theirs. The scientists were applauding and shaking hands, as this was a gigantic leap forward in physics.

"Can you find more and interact a little with this world, Alexandre?", asked Marc.

"Yes, I could. I might need a lot more power to do this, actually, so if you could tell the electric team to manage to produce an additional 500 Mega Ampère, I would be ready to proceed."

The order was sent, and Alexandre started a resource intensive schedule. The results were interesting: this universe was much smaller than theirs, and an unknown element was discovered alongside the atomic structure.

As Alexandre tried to uncover more and more info about this mysterious universe, the generators began to be strained.

"I think we'll have to stop the routine for now, since our converters cannot support that much power for a long period of time. Turn off the machine, Alexandre."

The young man nodded and typed multiple commands to stop the apparatus, without success. There was no feedback from the commands Alexandre was sending.

"The machine is not responding to any input, and it's asking for more and more power. Quickly, someone, unplug the generators before they go into overheat", Alexandre panicked.

Technicians were now rushing to manually turn off the power sources. A blue hue started to glow around the overcharged machine. Suddenly, as power levels went beyond limits, a huge electric arc stroke Alexandre, who vanished in smoke in front of its terrified workmates.

Alexandre was waked up in a dark, sinister oak forest, by a strange looking, yet beautiful maiden, who apparently took care of him. As he stood up "Be careful! That is one severe commotion thou hath on thy leg. Thou should not move too much. I cannot be of much help myself; however I know some healer that is able to heal thee. If thou careth to follow me to the Scarlet's manor, that is. I can carry thou on my cart. What say you?"

Alexandre gasped, "Take me to the doctor… I feel so weak. May I ask what this place is? I don't reckon this forest near Geneva…"

The girl put the man on the cart, and started pulling it across the eerie woods: "This is Mist Forest. I have no idea what thy place of Geneva is. People in Gensokyo have never heard of Geneva. "

Alexandre had no idea what she was talking about and was wondering what could have happened with the Magnetic Singularity Creator, at the research lab, since he woke up.

A quarter hour had passed when they both arrived at the manor's gate. "This place doesn't look like a Hospital… Has Richard pulled a very bad prank during my sleep?" he thought. As they entered the Austrian styled manor, he clearly saw a blue-haired young child dressed in an ample old-fashioned dress welcoming him. "Welcome to our mansion. Before our very own librarian, Patchouli, looks after your wounds, shall we discuss a bit about your arrival in Gensokyo?"

Alexandre nodded, resigned, as he was in no position to refuse. The young girl who was lifting the cart earlier pushed him into a huge armchair in the living room and waved goodbye. "My name's Remilia, nice to meet you." she proceeded. Remilia then explained her family's history and how the manor flourished. In her speech, the young man, despite all the blurriness, noticed there was something awfully wrong. She said she was born in 1502 A.D. This was strange; would it mean this clever child is 510 years old?

As she noticed him realizing this fact, she stated, "I'm a vampire, that's why there is a large gap between my childish appearance and my actual age." She asked tea to her maid, and added, "In fact, I've had Cirno take you here for one main reason. You've actually created a breach in the Hakurei border, which separate Gensokyo from the human lands, with your insane machinery. I like that knowledge, as we're always in need of additional specialists with all our operations here. We could use someone like you alongside with Patchouli for our future mischiefs via the rift you created."

"Never. I will never help a demon to kill and abduct people to raise its power."

"Shall I mention you don't have any other choice? Or, it might be you want to die. I can arrange that easily."

Remilia deviously smiled at Alexandre, showing her wings and her huge sharp teeth.

Alexandre began to run out of the manor, but both Sakuya and Remilia chased him. Despite his wounded leg, he was running at a fast pace, keeping a distance between the vampire and him. The scientist sprinted to get to the rift, as this portal was his only chance to come back safely to Geneva. He could now see the portal, however he was losing his breath and Remilia was closing him. As he was panicking, Cirno, who was hidden behind a tree, threw her cart over Alexandre, who felled on the ground. Remilia lifted her and ripped his torso with her claw-sharp nails. She laughed childishly, and added, "What a waste. You have chosen to die. Good night, Alexandre". She then pierced his throat with her fangs, drinking its crimson blood. Alexandre was left in the forest, sinking in a pool of his own blood: the secret of Gensokyo had once again been preserved.


End file.
